Number of wild tigers could treble

The number of tigers living in the wild could rise in the next 20 years.

At the moment there are only around three-thousand wild tigers living in Asia. The WWF believe that's 97% fewer than there were 100 years ago. Now experts say that number could treble if action is taken to protect their habitats.

Tigers can be found in 13 different countries around the world

Tiger populations have been affected by hunting, poaching and the loss of their habitats, to make way for roads, railways and towns.

Four of the sub-species of tigers are thought to be endangered and two are listed as 'critically' threatened.

Tigers are poached for their skin, which some people use as decoration or rugs

But experts in the US say the population could grow.

A team at the University of Minnesota in the US have studied satellite images of places where tigers live, like forests.

The technology has helped identify specifically where tigers are losing their habitat.

They say that if the animals are given special 'corridors' or areas to make their territory bigger, the numbers could treble.

Dr Anup Joshi said: " Enough wild habitat remains to allow a range-wide doubling of the wild tiger population."

"The global population could approach a trebling in the next two decades." he added.

From CBBC Newsround

Poaching for ivory stabilises but elephant decline continues

The number of elephants being killed for their ivory has stabilised but overall species numbers have continued to decline.

Another elephant killed for its tusks, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Data produced for 2015 shows that poachers are still killing more elephants than are born every year.

The report also highlighted a rising trend in poaching in South Africa's Kruger National Park, considered one of the safest havens.

But there was positive news from Eastern Africa where elephant number have outpaced poachers for the fourth year in a row.

Peak deaths

The Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES) compiles an authoritative set of figures on the annual trends in elephant numbers.

Called MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants), the latest data indicate that the rise in the numbers of elephant deaths, witnessed since 2006, peaked in 2011.

Since then the numbers have stabilised but the level remains "unacceptably high overall".

In 2015, the programme recorded the deaths of 14,606.

The researchers estimate that half of these were illegally killed putting the population well above the sustainability threshold, where deaths outweigh births.

"African elephant populations continue to face an immediate threat to their survival from unacceptably high levels of poaching for their ivory, especially in Central and West Africa where high levels of poaching are still evident," said John Scanlon, CITES Secretary General.

"There are some encouraging signs, including in certain parts of Eastern Africa, such as in Kenya, where the overall poaching trends have declined, showing us all what is possible through a sustained and collective effort with strong political support."

An elephant in Kruger National Park in South Africa, which saw a rise in killings in 2015

The mixed picture for the iconic species continued in Southern Africa. The overall levels of poaching remained below the sustainability threshold, but an upward trend in killing was seen in Kruger National Park for the first time.

CITES have demanded that the 19 countries most heavily involved in the killing of elephants or the consumption of ivory produce national ivory action plans to show how they plan to tackle the issue.

From BBC News- Science / Environment

British helicopter pilot killed by poachers in Tanzania

A British helicopter pilot working for a wildlife charity in Tanzania has been shot dead by elephant poachers.

Mr Gower was originally from Birmingham and worked in London before moving to East Africa to work as a helicopter pilot.

His brother Max told the BBC: "He would not have gone anywhere near those poachers if he'd known that they were armed.

"As I understand it, he knew they were around but came across them by accident. He didn't really have enough time to evaluate the situation before they opened fire on him."

Tropic Air Kenya

The Friedkin Conservation Fund said Roger Gower had been helping to find the criminals when they fired on his aircraft.

Tanzanian police have arrested three suspects over the death of the pilot working for a conservation fund .

Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Jumanne Maghembe told AFP news agency that those detained were co-operating.

"Soon more people making up the poaching gang will be netted and brought to justice," he said.

Roger Gower, 37, had been flying near an elephant killed by poachers when his helicopter came under fire.

The incident happened in Maswa Game Reserve, which borders the Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania.

Mr Gower managed to land his helicopter, but died before he could be rescued, a Tanzanian MP and former minister for natural resources and tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu, said in a tweet.

Max Gower also said his brother would be remembered as "very much his own man".

"He had a very strong moral compass. He just loved having fun, he couldn't be with his friends without making sure that everybody had fun."

The Gower family have invited donations to a fund established in Roger's memory that will contribute towards anti-poaching efforts in Tanzania.

The Friedkin Conservation Fund, for which Mr Gower had been working, said the organisation had lost "a dear friend".

The charity's founder, Dan Friedkin, said: "We believe that Roger can best be honoured by redoubling our commitment to protect elephants and our priceless wildlife heritage.

"This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania's wildlife."

From BBC News

South Africa's rhinos 'could be extinct in 10 years'!!!

Africa's rhino population could face extinction within 10 years, animal welfare experts have warned.

There are now less than 30,000 rhinos in the wild

South Africa has the largest population of the species in the world but their existence is under threat from poaching.

Demand from Asian markets for their horns has led to a dramatic increase in the numbers killed. It is thought more than 1,000 rhinos have been killed in South Africa's game reserves in 2015 alone.( BBC News)

A shocking 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone during the last year, according to South Africa's National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit.

This alarming figure is DOUBLE the amount that were poached in South Africa three years ago, and it has risen a staggering 9,000 per cent in just seven years.

There are now less than 30,000 rhinos in the wild and there are fears they will be wiped off the planet by 2026 if the illegal slaughter continues at its rapid rate.

Soaring demand for their horns from Asia has led to 2014 being branded "the worst poaching year on record" by international wildlife charity Save The Rhino.

Katherine Ellis, Office and Communications Manager for Save The Rhino, said: "According to South Africa’s National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit, 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone during 2014, making last year the worst poaching year on record.

"This would represent over a 9,000 per cent increase in the number of South African rhinos poached since 2007, when just 13 rhinos were killed."

Save The Rhinos blamed one factor of this increase in rhino deaths on a soaring demand for horns

At the beginning of the 20th century there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia, according to Save The Rhino.

This number dramatically fell to 70,000 by 1970 and finally to around just 29,000 left in the wild today.

But if they continue to be poached at their current rates, Save The Rhino warned that they could become extinct in the wild by as soon as 2026.

"Depending on the rate that poaching increases, and also the breeding rate of rhinos, overall rhino deaths could overtake births sometime between 2015 and 2021, which would push rhino populations into decline," said Ms Ellis.

"Sadly if poaching continues to increase at current rates, rhinos could be effectively extinct in the wild as soon as 2026."

But there are crucial moves currently underway which aim at reversing the rhino decline.

These include attempts at thwarting poachers and conservation programmes to help protect the rhinos from both human and natural danger. ( )

READ MORE

Zoo in effort to save beautiful rare Indonesian magpie

Rare bird experts at a zoo in Cheshire have started a project that they hope will save one of the world's most endangered birds.

The Javan green Magpie, Cissa thalassina from Indonesia has been poached almost to extinction.

    Now, four pairs of the birds have been brought to the UK in the hope that they will breed.Andrew Owen, who looks after the birds at Chester Zoo, hopes the project will stop these types of birds from dying out.

There is thought to be fewer than 100 of the Javan green magpie left in the world, putting the inquisitive bird with distinctive green plumage, black eye feathers and a pink beak on the critically endangered list.

The zoo is hoping to boost survival rates by developing the first captive breeding programme outside of Indonesia, where a passion for keeping caged birds has seen numbers in the wild decimated. As the birds become rarer, their value increases, leaving many species on the brink of disappearing altogether.

The zoo's curator of birds, Andrew Owen, explains: "We really are fighting against time to save the incredibly rare Javan green magpie from extinction. Sadly, there is evidence that the species is fast disappearing in the wild as they have fallen victim to the pet trade and an ever shrinking habitat.

"In fact, they have only been found once in the last 10 years in the wild by ornithologists. By bringing twelve of the birds to the UK, we are hoping our new conservation breeding programme will begin to address the desperate plight of this species and ensure a protected population for the future.

"We've been working with the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Centre in Java for five years and our mission to track down the birds with the beautiful green plumage has included trawling markets and interviewing traders.

"Over time we have managed to rescue a handful of birds and set up a breeding centre and, together, we have been successful in breeding the birds on their country of origin. However, so prized are they in Java, the breeding centre has suffered from a number of break-ins - the magpies being a prime target given their beauty and increasing value on the pet trade."

Press Association

One of the world's last northern white rhinos dies in the US

An extremely rare northern white rhino has died in the US, leaving only three others in the world.

Nola was one of four northern white rhinos left in the world.

The 41-year-old rhino, Nola, died after surgery to her hip at San Diego Zoo.

Nola's death means that there are only three other northern white rhinos in the world.

They live in Kenya and are kept closely guarded.

Nola had surgery on 13 November but her health got worse.

Poachers have been blamed for the devastating drop in northern white rhino numbers.

They kill many rhinos to get their horns, which are worth a lot of money in some cultures.

However, there is hope that there may be more northern white rhinos born in the future.

San Diego Zoo has recently brought in six southern white rhinos, hoping to use them as mothers to new northern white rhino calves.
Zoo researchers are still working out if it's possible, but they say they're hopeful that a northern white rhino calf could be born within 10 to 15 years.
From CBBC Newsround

Arnold Schwarzenegger terminates tusk for anti-poaching campaign

California senator and actor explodes tusk in video to draw attention to illegal wildlife trade that kills tens of thousands of elephants each year

The all-action movie star and former California senator Arnold Schwarzeneggerhas lent his weight to a campaign against ivory poaching by blowing up an elephant tusk on camera.

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s ‘96 elephants campaign’ aims to draw attention to the daily death toll of the majestic animals.

In the video, a T-shirt wearing Schwarzenegger says: “Hey, stop killing 96 elephants every day just because of this ivory. Lets get rid of the demand once and for all.” He then presses a detonator, exploding a tusk.

More than 42 tonnes of illegal ivory have been destroyed so far this year in China, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and the US.

But the WCS fears that a House interior appropriations bill could roll back current US regulations and thwart efforts by the Fish and Wildlife Service to curtail the illegal trade.

John Calvelli, the WCS’s campaign director said: “We are extremely grateful Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the 96 Elephants campaign, and we are hopeful that his global following of fans will become allies to stop the killing, stop the trafficking and stop the demand of ivory.”

From theguardian

Lion populations in Africa 'could halve in 20 years'

The number of lions in Africa is rapidly dropping, except in highly-managed areas in the south of the continent, a study has found.

Almost all lion populations that historically exceeded 500 are declining.

The study suggests that lion populations in unprotected areas could be cut in half over the next two decades.

The paper's authors say lions should now be upgraded to an endangered species in Central and West Africa.

The loss of habitat, hunting, and a demand for traditional medicine have all contributed to population decline.

Lions are currently considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but endangered status means they would be considered at "a very high risk of extinction in the wild".

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, says "many lion populations are either now gone or expected to disappear within the next few decades".

The study predicts a 67% chance that lions in West and Central Africa will decline by half.

African lion populations are declining everywhere on the continent, with the exception of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, which are having success with what the paper calls "small, fenced, intensively managed, and funded reserves".

There is a 67% chance that lions in West and Central Africa will decline by half within 20 years, while East African populations have a 37% chance of being halved in the same time.

Those predictions are based on trends in 47 lion populations, containing more than 8,200 animals.

The decline could lead to a reversal of previous trends, making the protected, managed populations of southern Africa more viable than the East African savannah.

A reduction in lion numbers could also change the local ecosystems, "with the lion no longer playing a pivotal role as apex predator", the study says.

The authors also warned that the African lion could come to rely on the small, managed reserves, "and may no longer be a flagship species of the once vast natural ecosystems across the rest of the continent."

From BBC News- Science/Environment

Why is ivory so popular in China?

Say NO to ivory trade!

Up to 30,000 African elephants are killed every year by poachers who want to sell their tusks for ivory.

Prince William will go on Chinese TV today to speak out against the use of ivory.

It's a material found in elephant tusks and China buys and sells more of it than anywhere else in the world.

Prince William has spoken passionately about trying to stop the ivory trade in the past and will use his speech to urge the Chinese government to ban it.

Here is Newsround's guide on why the ivory trade is such a big concern and why China seems so obsessed with it.

What is ivory?

Elephants are hunted for their tusks, and the ivory is illegally sold all around the world.

Ivory is a hard white material that is found in the tusks of elephants and other tusked animals like hippos and walruses. Although rhinos have similar looking horns, these aren't actually made from ivory. However, rhinos are also illegally hunted for their horns because they are used in lots of medicines in China and the Far East.

Lots of elephants die as a result of hunters taking their tusks because removing the ivory almost always kills the animals.

It's estimated that up to 30,000 African elephants die every year because they are hunted for ivory.

Selling ivory was banned worldwide in 1989, but the ban has been lifted several times, so there is still a lot of ivory on sale. As well as this, a lot of ivory is sold by poachers who kill elephants illegally.

Why is ivory so popular in China?

Ivory is often used to make elaborate and expensive ornaments in China.

In China and Hong Kong, ivory is seen as precious material and is used in ornaments and jewellery. It's also sometimes used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Some rich Chinese people think that owning ivory makes them look more successful. Others think that ivory will bring them good luck.

China has the biggest ivory trade in the world and wildlife experts believe that around 70 per cent of the world's ivory ends up there.

Are things changing?

The Chinese government has started cracking down on illegal ivory and has destroyed lots of tusks and ornaments.

This year China agreed to ban ivory tusks and ornaments coming into the country for twelve months.

The government has said it wants to completely ban ivory sales soon but it is still legal to sell older carvings and ornaments.

Some people don't want ivory to be banned in China because they say that carving it is an old Chinese tradition that should carry on.

But more and more people in China disagree. A recent survey found that 95 per cent of people there wanted ivory to be banned to protect the elephants.

From CBBC Newsround

The polar bears are coming to town

For 15 years, Irish anthropologist Martina Tyrrell has studied the relationship between humans and animals in Arviat, an Inuit community on the west coast of Hudson Bay, where the townspeople are increasingly having to cope with a large and dangerous visitor - the polar bear.

People and polar bears have always lived side-by-side in this part of the world but in the past it was rare for bears to enter the town. Now, every summer and autumn, it's becoming an uncomfortable part of everyday life.

Polar bears tower over humans, sometimes measuring as much as 12 feet from nose to tail. But Inuit believe that humans and bears have much in common. When bears rear up on their hind legs to sniff the air, to play, to attack or defend themselves, they resemble two-legged humans. And like Inuit, bears are at home on both sea ice and land. At sea they hunt the same marine mammal species for sustenance - humans and bears are rival predators at the top of the food chain.

Polar bears: Key facts

• Polar bears are the biggest land-based carnivores in the world and live in the Arctic;
• They mainly eat seals, which they detect using their remarkable sense of smell - bears can smell a seal in the water beneath a metre of compacted snow, and on land from almost 1km (0.6 miles) away:
• Climate change is currently the single greatest threat to polar bears - their icy habitat is melting away

Source: WWF

---

Over the past decade, however, encounters have been on the increase. Camping south of the community in summer is no longer safe, and autumn berry picking - an important subsistence activity usually undertaken by women and children - is now fraught with danger. Bears increasingly wander the streets of Arviat, particularly in late autumn.

At this time of year, regular announcements of bear sightings are made on local community FM radio, schools are sometimes closed early and the usually lively streets are eerily quiet. Halloween trick-or-treating, once so wild and fun-filled, has been all but wiped out, for fear of unwanted encounters not with ghosts or demons but with wandering bears.

What is driving this change in the polar bears' behaviour?

Many Arviarmiut blame polar bear tourism in neighbouring Churchill - 250km to the south - for encouraging the animals to look for food in human settlements.

But there are other theories. Some Inuit think the bear population in the region is growing. Many scientists, on the other hand, put the blame on habitat loss - according to this theory it's the desperation of hungry bears facing decreased ice seasons in a rapidly warming Arctic that leads them to approach the town. They have always gathered on the coastline at this time of year, awaiting the formation of the sea ice that is their winter hunting ground, but usually at a greater distance.

Whatever the cause, Arviarmiut have had to get used to sharing their community with growing numbers of large, dangerous and unpredictable carnivores. Many towns in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut are in the same position - Clyde River, Hall Beach and Resolute Bay have all reported problems in the past couple of years.

In Arviat, things reached a critical point four years ago.

Between 2010 and 2011, 11 polar bears were killed by Arviarmiut defending life or property. So, in 2011, with financial support from WWF (Canada), local hunter Leo Ikakhik was hired as a full-time polar bear monitor. Leo patrols the town, responds to sightings, and discourages polar bears through the use of spotlights and bangers. In addition, many homes have been provided with sealed steel bins for storing frozen meat, which was previously stored on roofs in sub-zero temperatures, and electric fences have been erected around sled dog teams. As a result of these measures, defence kills have all but ceased.

But a number of bears are also killed each year by hunters.

 Adapted from BBC News. Magazine

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More than £300,000 raised for Cecil the lion

More than £300,000 has been raised for the project that was tracking Cecil the lion, since his death last month.

Cecil was a major tourist attraction in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park

Cecil was a big tourist attraction in Zimbabwe in Africa and his death by the American Walter Palmer has made headlines this week.

It's all because Cecil was protected as part of a study by Oxford University looking at how lions live in the wild.

Mr Palmer has said he regrets what happened and he thought the hunt he was on was legal.

Now it's hoped the donations will help the university group to do more to protect other lions in the wild.

From CBBC Newsround

Peru fighting illegal animal trade

The sale of illegal animals around the world is pushing some species to extinction and Peru is just one of the countries, trying to put a stop to the illegal trade.

It's a particularly big problem in the jungles of South America. In Peru, the government and the police are trying to stop criminals from selling snakes, monkeys and other species in markets and elsewhere.

Police have been going into markets to try and rescue some of the species.

From CBBC Newsround

Kenya opens anti-poaching forensic laboratory

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has opened a forensic laboratory to boost the fight against poaching.

The Kenya Wildlife Service says some species could be pushed into extinction because of poaching

The information gathered should help in prosecuting suspected poachers as cases can collapse because of weak evidence.

The laboratory will build up a DNA database which will link stolen ivory and meat to specific animals.

Poaching has damaged the wildlife population in Kenya with fears that some species could be pushed into extinction.

The laboratory is the second of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa - the other being in South Africa - and KWS says it can be used by all countries in the east and central African region.

A team of 45 researchers at the $1.7m (£1.2m) laboratory in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, will now be taking samples from wild animals in order to extract the DNA.

This information can then be used to provide "water-tight evidence" in court, according to KWS spokesman Paul Udoto.

The Thai authorities recently discovered $6m-worth (£4m) of smuggled ivory in the country

Mr Udoto says prosecutors have faced a problem proving that meat found with a suspected poacher is from a protected species.

In the past suspects have been able to argue that it was goat or cattle meat.

Now the evidence can be tested in court and compared with the information in the database to prove beyond doubt what animal it comes from.

KWS says that bushmeat hunting is endangering some wild animals including the sable and hirola antelopes.

DNA taken from smuggled ivory that has been discovered can be linked to an individual animal in a specific location.

Some ivory stockpiles have been destroyed in an attempt to halt the trade

That information can secure a prosecution and help in intelligence gathering when trying to establish where poachers are operating, Mr Udoto says.

About 100 rhinoceros have been poached in Kenya in the last three years and KWS things that if no "urgent interventions are made" rhinos could disappear from Kenya altogether.

It is hoped that more prosecutions will act as a deterrent to potential smugglers.

The illegal ivory trade has soared in recent years, and a kilogramme of ivory is now worth thousands of dollars.

Much of the demand has been driven by a rapidly growing market in Asia.

From BBc Science / Environment

Wildlife decline may lead to 'empty landscape'

Populations of some of the world's largest wild animals are dwindling, raising the threat of an "empty landscape", say scientists.

The threatened black rhino

About 60% of giant herbivores - plant-eaters - including rhinos, elephants and gorillas, are at risk of extinction, according to research.

Analysis of 74 herbivore species, published in Science Advances, blamed poaching and habitat loss.

A previous study of large carnivores showed similar declines.

Prof William Ripple, of Oregon State University, led the research looking at herbivores weighing over 100kg, from the reindeer up to the African elephant.

"This is the first time anyone has analysed all of these species as a whole," he said.

"The process of declining animals is causing an empty landscape in the forest, savannah, grasslands and desert."

The threatened mountain zebra

Prof David Macdonald, of Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, was among the team of 15 international scientists.

"The big carnivores, like the charismatic big cats or wolves, face horrendous problems from direct persecution, over-hunting and habitat loss, but our new study adds another nail to their coffin - the empty larder," he said.

"It's no use having habitat if there's nothing left to eat in it."

According to the research, the decline is being driven by a number of factors including habitat loss, hunting for meat or body parts, and competition for food and resources with livestock.

With rhinoceros horn worth more than gold, diamonds or cocaine on illegal markets, rhinos could be extinct in the wild within 20 years in Africa, said the researchers.

The consequences of large wild herbivore decline include:

• Loss of habitat: for example, elephants maintain forest clearings by trampling vegetation

• Effects on the food chain: large predators such as lions, leopards, and hyena rely on large herbivores for food

• Seed dispersal: large herbivores eat seeds which are carried over long distances

• Impact on humans: an estimated one billion people rely on wild meat for subsistence while the loss of iconic herbivores will have a negative impact on tourism

The biggest losses are in South East Asia, India and Africa.

Europe and North America have already lost most of their large herbivores in a previous wave of extinctions.

From BBC Science